'World's first' WiMax mobile phone spied

HTC planning Russian WiMax launch?

Mobile phone connections over 3G are like so yesterday. HTC obviously knows this and so has developed what could well be the world’s first WiMax-capable phone.

HTC's T8290 could be it's first WiMax phone

Picture of the handset, said to be called the HTC T829, have leaked out and, unless some good-quality Photoshop trickery’s involved, a series of pictures online show the device connected to a wireless network at 13.8Mb/s.

This is a wireless speed that far surpasses the connection capabilities of HSDPA 3G, which top out at no more than 7.2Mb/s.

13.8Mb/s? Holy smokes!

Various icons on the mysterious HTC device also appear to show it connected to a network called Yota, Russia’s 802.16 WiMax network that – as of early October – covered central Moscow.

Another picture shows how the phone’s WiMax connection can be switched on and off at will.

You can turn WiMax off, you know, if you want

In addition to WiMax connectivity, the T8290 is also rumoured to be able to connect over 802.11g Wi-Fi networks. Although it would be disappointing if the device couldn’t connect over 802.11n.

The phone’s said to have a 3.8in, 800 x 480 display and sport Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity too.

A launch date or price hasn’t been leaked yet.